Explanation:
The central bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy rises over
the northern Chilean Atacama altiplano in this
postcard from planet Earth.
At an altitude of 4500 metres, the strange beauty of the
desolate landscape could almost belong to
another world though.
Brownish red and yellow tinted sulfuric patches lie along the
whitish salt flat beaches of the Salar de Aguas Calientes region.
In the distance along the Argentina border is the
stratovolcano
Lastarria, its peak at 5700 metres (19,000 feet).
In the clear, dark sky above, stars, nebulae, and cosmic dust clouds
in the Milky Way echo the colours of the altiplano at night.
Extending the view across extragalactic space, the
Large and Small
Magellanic Clouds, satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, shine near
the horizon through a faint greenish airglow.